


The More Things Change

by TwicetheTrouble



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Will edit tags as needed, and that turtle is raph, by any means, he doesn't take it well, some OCs, they aren't the focus tho, your basic 'a turtle gets turned human' au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21863026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwicetheTrouble/pseuds/TwicetheTrouble
Summary: Raphael made a split second decision, shoving Donatello out of the way of a glowing projectile. Next thing he knows he's being questioned by an underground Mage who hasn't seen the light of day since...well ever. But Raphael isn't the type to just answer questions so the mystery man leaves him in a strange crystal pod that has only one purpose, to turn it's inhabitant human.or, Raph gets taken first in 'Tales of the Underground' and ends up getting turned human as a result
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT), Raphael & Donatello
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	1. Start Process

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I really shouldn't be starting this but i am. I recently started rewatching the 2003 turtles again and decided to revisit some ancient story ideas to try and rework them. This one's fairly old but is reworked so much that it's hardly recognizable. And i love it. Basically the idea is that Raph is taken first instead of Don during "Tales of the Underground". And since Don isn't there to explain what they are to the Mage, he just assumes they need to be turned human again like the rest. And he does.
> 
> Also, i'm thinking of writing this as a sort of interactive fic. Like i give you guys a few options and you guys decide through the comments what happens next. It sounds like a fun thing but i'm not sure if there will be enough people interested in the idea. Let me know what you think. Either way i'm continuing the story, it's just the content that will differ. : )
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL
> 
> PS. it's a short chapter to start but i kinda wanted to get this thing started so here ya go!
> 
> edit (12/21) have edited summery and tags to better explain the story. Hopefully.

RAPHAEL - UNDERGROUND CITY - EPISODE 15: TALES FROM THE UNDERGROUND PART 3

I stood watch near Donatello as he fiddled with the crystal, trying to get it to power the door open. The monsters were getting closer, pushing the others back as they fought. I itched to help out but I had more important things to do. Like, for instance, keeping them from attacking our distracted brother.

“Hurry up Don, we don’t have all night,” I growled, hands tightening around my weapons as Leo got knocked across the room. He was up again in a mater of seconds darting right back into the fight.

“I’m hurrying!” Donny insisted. He pulled the crystal out once again, looked and looked at it for a long moment.

“That doesn’t look like hurrying to me.”

He shot me a dirty look before flipping the crystal and placing it back into the slot. It glowed a bright blue as the door slid open.

“Finally,” I muttered under my breath. I turned towards the rest of our makeshift group. “Guys! The door’s open!”

“Yes!” Mikey shouted, trying to knock some monster with his nun-chucks. It didn’t do much good but it distracted him enough for the orange clad turtle to scurry out of the way. “Let’s get the shell out of here!”

“I have to agree,” Leo said as a monster just barely dodged a hit with his swords. “Everyone! Through the-“

Leo hadn’t finished speaking when I saw a glowing streak out of the corner of my eye as it headed straight towards Donny. Without a second thought, I shoved my younger brother out of the way, allowing what turned out to be a glowing bola weapon to catch me around my torso.

I saw Don’s shocked face for a split second. Then, all I saw was white as I felt a gut-wrenching sensation similar to falling, but ten times worse.

When the light faded and the sensation vanished, I found myself in a completely different room. It was made of the same tan and blue stones as the doorway I disappeared from, but it was round and full of highly detailed monster statues displayed on pedestals. I had barely gotten my barring when a glasslike dome surrounded me on all sides, cutting off any means of escape.

I yelled banging on the glass as some sort of white liquid began to fill the dome I was in. It quickly rose past my ankles and was almost at my knees before a muffled voice was heard.

“Pause process,” they said. The liquid responded to it, not filling my tank any farther. A man stepped forward eyeing me curiously. He was pale as the liquid in the tank, his hair long, or at least what was left of it. His eyes were a light pink color and he looked to be wearing some type of dress I’d never seen before.

“What are you? You don’t look like the other beings that dwell down here,” He asked curiously. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t exactly in the mood to play twenty questions.

“Let me out of this cheep ass snow globe and I’ll show yah!” I answered, banging on the glass again to no avail.

“There is no need to be so combative. I merely asked a question,” he stated.

“You can take that question and shove it up your shell!” I pulled out one of my sais and tried to break the glass that way. It did no good.

“I see you are not willing to cooperate,” the man said with a disappointed sigh. “I suppose I will have to ask another one of your species. Maybe they will be more forthcoming with the answers I seek.”

“You leave them alone!” I yelled, my blood running cold. He turned away, no longer listening to me.

“Yes, that would be the best option, I’m sure. The purple one seemed fairly intelligent. I believe I will ask him.”

“Don’t touch him! I swear, if you so much as touch his shell, I will end you!” I exclaimed. No one hurt my little brother. Not on my watch.

“In the meantime, I can at least fix what was done to you. Just like the others,” he mused. He looked back at me with a cool, calculating look in his eyes. It was like I was no longer considered a person in his mind, only something to be fixed, whatever that meant.

“Start process.”

The liquid started rising again. I flailed and yelled, doing my best to escape. It did nothing as the liquid eventually enveloped my head before quickly crystalizing around me, restricting my movements.

I held onto consciousness for a few seconds after that. Long enough to hear the glass recede and the panicked yells of Quarry nearby.

Then there was pain. Like every molecule of my person was being ripped apart and destroyed.

Then, I felt nothing.


	2. What happened?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raph discovers what the chamber actually does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you for the interest you are showing! I know it's still a pretty small fic so i'm not expecting very much at the moment. Therefore i'm happy to see every single view and kudos that comes for this! If you haven't noticed, i've shuffled the tags and summary around a bit. I'll probably leave it like it is for the time being, unless something changes significantly.
> 
> As for the interactive portion, i'm placing the choices at the end if you want to participate. I'm going to say if i get at least two votes for one option, i'll go with it. If not, or it ends in a tie, then i'm letting my DnD dice decide. Either way is fine by me. I'm writing this as a little challenge that forces me not to have complete control of a story, either by votes or by dice. In other words, if you want to vote, go right ahead! If not, that's awesome too! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL
> 
> PS. Also Raphael doesn't respond well to being turned human so keep that in mind. just mentioning that so you guys have a little warning just in case. he's probably a bit out of character as well, but i let my dice decide some of his actions, and this is what happened.

It felt like as soon as I was encased in crystal that I was being let out again. At the same time, I could have sworn I was in there for an eternity or more. I tried to jump off the pedestal so I could hunt down the man that put me there, but that didn’t work out so well. My muscles didn’t want to listen to me. They felt foreign underneath my skin as I stumbled forward, almost falling to the ground if not for someone catching me at the last possible second.

“Easy now,” Don’s voice said close by. I relaxed a little as he helped me down to the floor. “Just sit for a bit. I need to make sure you’re alright.”

“The guy?” I questioned, my voice sounding off. I ignored it, instead getting a look at my surroundings. Most of the crystal statues were gone now. That was good. I was starting to suspect they were all like me, just people trapped in rocks because some wackjob wanted to ‘fix’ them. There were humans hanging around now, all looking fairly lost as Leo and Mikey handed out random scraps of clothes. I wasn’t sure why a lot of them were naked but I didn’t really care enough to ask either.

“We already took care of him,” Don informed me. “Trust me, he won’t be getting out anytime soon. Not after what he did.”

“What did he do?” I asked, watching my younger brother as he shined a small flashlight in my eyes. He nodded at something and continued on with the examination without answering me.

I noticed something red getting in my face every time I moved my head but it was gone before I could figure out what it was.

“Donny. What did the creep do?”

“He captured all the experimented people and used energy from his crystal moon to make them human once again,” Donatello explained, not looking me in the eyes. “It sounds good on the outside, but he did it for selfish reasons. He wanted them to stay in this city with him. To repopulate it I guess you could say. He wanted us to stay too, but Mikey gave him a firm no by shoving him in his own crystallization chamber.”

Upon hearing his name, Michelangelo turned to face us, stopping in his tracks to stare. He pulled Leonardo to a stop next to him, motioning towards us with increasing insistence. When Leo finally looked, he just stared as well.

“Good, the bastard deserved it,” I muttered, watching my two brothers carefully as neither of them moved.

“Yeah, for once I agree,” Donny stated, sounding colder than usual.

“And is there a reason Leo and Mikey are staring? Because it’s starting to piss me off.” I glared back at the two, who didn’t seem at all effected by it.

“I never thought I’d be glad to hear that you’re pissed at something.” Donny chuckled, not so artfully dodging my question.

“You’re about to be added to that list if you don’t tell me what the shell is going on around here,” I demanded, turning towards him with a glare. The red thing was back in front of my face, this time to stay apparently. I tried to reach up and swat it away but my arm wasn’t cooperating well. It came up sure, but it was slow and its movements choppy.

My arm was also tan.

It looked like a human arm. With a human hand attached to it. Which couldn’t be right. It must be someone else’s arm because mine didn’t look like that. The arm started to shake the longer I stared at it.

“The crystallization chambers were what he used to manipulate the crystal’s energy,” Don explained cautiously. “The same type of chamber he put you in.”

I tried to wiggle my fingers on that hand, as a sure way of proving it wasn’t mine. Instead the five slender-ish digits moved. It was awkward and halted, the pointer and middle fingers moving in unison just as the ring and pinky did. They moved like they were receiving commands from someone who only ever had three fingers per hand.

“What he did to these people, he did to you too.”

“No, no. That’s not…just no,” I said, my voice shaking as much as the hand was. I hid the arm from view.

“I know it’s hard to understand right now but-“

“No. I _understand_ what you’re sayin’. But I’m sayin’ no. That’s not what happened. That _can’t_ happen. It’s just…not possible!”

“It is possible. Because that’s what happened. You’re-“

“No!” I yelled, making the rest of the people in the room freeze and stare as well. I caught Leo and Mikey look at each other, trading some sort of silent dialogue I couldn’t translate at the moment, then head towards us.

“Denying it isn’t going to make this go away,” Donatello stated. “You’re _human._ With tan skin and a lot of hair and a desperate need for clothes before the humans become more uncomfortable.”

“I…” My voice cracked as Don got that sympathetic look in his eyes that I normally hate. I looked away, tentatively pulling both hands in front of me so I could examine them. They both shook as I studied the human appendages, hoping to find something that would tell me they weren’t mine.

They were large for a human with fingers that could only be considered small if you compared them to my turtle ones. The hands themselves were more fit for fighting than anything else. They both held the same calluses and scars as my turtle hands did, right down to a distinct circular mark from mishandling sais as a child. Despite the extra fingers and strange color, I couldn’t deny that they were mine.

_“I can at least fix what they’ve done to you,”_ the man’s voice echoed through my head. That’s what he had said before letting the crystallization chamber start its work again. But this wasn’t _fix._ This was the farthest thing from fixed.

“Raphie?” Mikey’s unsure voice had my attention snapping up to him. “You alright there, bro?”

I didn’t know how to answer him so I didn’t. I was _not_ alright, but putting that into words felt too close to admitting what was going on. I wasn’t there yet.

“He’s having a…hard time wrapping his head around it all,” Donatello explained for me.

“Don’t worry, man. Everything will work out. I’m sure our brother will figure out how to reverse it in no time. He’s a genius after all!” Michelangelo grinned, trying to be helpful. He reached over to rub my back, like Master Splinter used to when we were little and needed to be calmed down. But all it did now was make me very much aware of my missing shell.

I flinched away from him, ignoring the hurt expression that flashed across his face. It had felt strange, different then if someone had just touched my shell. I couldn’t explain the difference but I could tell there was one. I didn’t like it.

“Mikey’s right. Everything will be fine,” Leonardo said gently, stepping around Michelangelo to drop something onto my shoulders. I tried to shrug it off but he made sure it didn’t go anywhere. “It’s clothes. You need them right now. At least with humans around. If you want to walk around without them once we’re home, that’s your business. Though, Master Splinter might have something to say about it.”

I opened my mouth to argue but found I didn’t have the energy to come up with one. I felt tired and emotionally num, like someone stole whatever I was supposed to be feeling and tossed it into the trash can. So, I pulled on whatever he had handed me, which turned out to be a robe-like thing similar to what Splinter wore. It was old and torn, but it was mostly in one piece. I used my fallen belt to tie it closed.

“He didn’t fight Leo,” Mikey murmured in shock. “There’s something wrong with him, isn’t there?”

“He’s in shock, Mikey,” Donny explained quietly. “He’s going to need some time.”

“Can you fix it?” Mikey asked, getting my attention.

“I’m not sure,” He answered after a pause. “I’ll have to study it more once we get home.”

I looked away, not sure if I liked that answer.

“I’m going to make sure everyone else is alright and then we can go,” Donatello said, climbing to his feet.

“I’ll help,” Leo said.

“Uh, me too!” Michelangelo stated, moving to leave as well. Leo stopped him.

“Stay with Raph.”

“But-“

“He shouldn’t be left alone,” Leo whispered like I couldn’t hear him.

“He’s going to be angry once he’s not in shock and that never goes well for me.” Mikey’s voice was just as quiet. As in, not at all.

“If he’s going to be mad at anyone about this, it’s not going to be you,” Don said. “Just keep an eye on him, maybe see if you can get him talking.”

“Talking, yeah. I can do that.” Mikey nodded in a determined fashion as Leonardo patted his shoulder and left with Donatello.

“Sooo…wanna hear how we took out the mage guy? It was pretty sweet,” Mikey tried to tempt me. I ignored him. “I mean, I did most of the work so of course it’s going to be awesome. Totally radical.”

I scoffed lightly making Mikey grin before putting on a playful frown.

“It was awesome. He was earth bending all over the place with this stupid rock thing so I stole it and saved all your butts,” Mikey gloated. “You should all be thanking me.”

I shook my head and studied my legs and feet instead. They were tan, just like my arms, and had a lot more toes then I was used to. I wiggled them just to check. They wiggled in response. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the toes.

“Come on, you have to say something to that,” Mikey pouted.

“No,” I said, ignoring the shocked expression on his face. I was starting to feel not so num anymore, but I couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing or not. But picking on Mikey did make me feel a little better. Like it was a small piece of normalcy that told me things weren’t as different as they seemed.

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Mikey tried to keep pouting but I could just make out a triumphant grin fighting its way to the surface.

“You don’t make sense.”

“Rude,” he muttered. He was silent for a short moment. Or long, considering it was Mikey. “Oh hey, you want me to grab a mirror or something? That way you can see what you look like and all that. I mean, it’s not bad. Honest. Most of the purple dragons look a lot worse than you do. I’m not good at judging human looks, that’s for sure but…”

He trailed off upon seeing my annoyed glare.

“I’ll just go grab something mirror like. I think I see one right there, actually.” Mikey darted away, rustling through some junk nearby. I shook my head. He must have forgotten about Leo’s orders already, which wasn’t that surprising.

While he was gone, I continued to study myself. Despite my human appearance, I still retained my muscle mass, which was good. The last thing I’d want was to become a human _and_ a scrawny twig. Whatever scars I had before remained as well, though they were now pink and white rather than the dark green they used to be. My shell was gone too, front and back. It made me feel exposed, which I liked less than the extra toes.

“Got a mirror! Or something that’s at least shinny enough to be used as a mirror,” Mikey shouted, bounding back to me while holding a small, shiny object. It was about the size of his hands with the only thing connecting it to a mirror was that it was reflective. “Here! Give it a go. Who knows, you might like it better than your old, ugly mug.”

I snatched the shiny thing away, sending him a glare that he only grinned at. I looked back at the mirror substitute, suddenly unsure of what to do. In truth I was pretty curious as to what everyone else kept seeing when they looked at me. But I wasn’t sure if I was ready to see a stranger’s face where mine should be.

With a sigh, I turned it to face me, freezing when I caught sight of my reflection.

Gold eyes stared back at me, familiar enough in both shape and color that I knew they were my own. They hadn’t changed much, which was a relief considering how much the rest of my face had. It was long now, longer and narrower than my turtle face had been. It had a lot more angles than I was used to, from my jaw to my new, very prominent, nose.

The most noticeable difference was that I now had hair. It was long and straight, falling several inches past my shoulders in a thick, burnt red curtain. My eyebrows were the same color as they painted a surprised expression on my face.

I stared for a long time, just trying to process what I saw.

“See? Not that bad. I think the long hair suits you.” Mikey’s voice filtered into my head, as he rambled. “It kind of gives you this rebellious look, and we all know how rebellious you-“

A crash interrupted Mikey, making him jump. The mirror was in pieces next to me, my hand having smashed it before I even told it to. I barely felt the shards still digging into my palm as I pulled it out of the mess.

My emotions were back, or I could at least read them again. I was angry. I wanted to hit something, or break something, or just get up and run until I couldn’t move. But my body still wasn’t listening correctly. I wasn’t sure if it was something to do with the crystal process or that I was just horrible at ordering my new limbs around. But I knew if I tried to so much as stand on my own, I’d end up back on the floor again.

“Um…good thing that wasn’t a real mirror. Rather not get seven more years of bad luck, am I right? I mean you’ve already broken our bathroom mirror. Twice. And that one we found in the sewers. And…well, you get the idea, ” Mikey said, nervously shifting around.

Unable to do much else, I wrapped my arms around my legs, burying my face in my knees.

“Raphie?”

“Go away,” I told him, not looking up.

“Can’t do that bro. Leo said-“

“Just go!” I shouted. Mikey was silent for a moment before sighing.

“Ok, I’ll give you some space,” he said. I felt his hand pat my shoulder briefly, his temperature significantly lower than my own, now that I was paying attention enough to notice. “Give me a yell if you need me. Ok?”

I didn’t say anything, instead just keeping my face hidden from view. I hated this. I hated everything about this. I hated that I got changed. I hated I couldn’t move like normal. I hated that my brothers felt like they needed to take care of me. That wasn’t their job. I’m the one that’s supposed to protect them, not the other way around.

But I was also scared. Mostly that I would never be like I was ever again. I _liked_ being a turtle. And to have that taken from me _against my will_ , well, I hated that too.

Maybe Donny could fix it later, maybe he couldn’t. Nothing was certain when it came to things like this. But for now, in the quiet surrounding me, I could at least pretend everything was still fine. If I was lucky, it might all just be a long, bad dream. But I’ve probably broken too many mirrors to be that lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll for next chapter:  
> 1) Raphael's transformation sticks to the rules the others do (ie: he reverts back to turtle once he leaves the city). (not to say this whole mess will be over and forgotten. After all, no one switches from turtle to human to turtle again without something going wrong.)
> 
> 2) Raphael's transformation goes against the rules of the others for some reason (ie: He stays human even after leaving the city.) (also has it's pros and cons. Pros being more human!Raphie screen time. Cons being Raphie doesn't like Human!Raphie screen time.)
> 
> POLL IS OPEN! (I will edit when it is closed)
> 
> also, if you want to see what my human!Raphael looks like [HE'S OVER HERE!](https://tblsomedoodles.tumblr.com/post/189895274196/human-raphael-i-have-a-fic-im-working-on-where)

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [tumblr](https://twicethetrouble.tumblr.com/) for updates and other random stuff!


End file.
